The Dark Eidolon

"The Dark Eidolon" is a sword and sorcery short story by Clark Ashton Smith, forming part of his Zothique cycle of stories. It was first published in Weird Tales in 1935 and has been variously republished, notably in the anthology "The Spell of Seven", edited by L. Sprague de Camp.

Described by de Camp in his introduction to the story as 'one of the most horrible' of Smith's tales, it chronicles the life and death of the dread sorcerer "Namirrha", once known as Narthos, a beggar boy of Ummaos, chief city of Xylac. Trampled almost to death by the horse of Prince Zotulla, he leaves the city and becomes a willing pupil of a wizard, driving his own bond with Thasaidon, Lord of the Seven Hells.

He becomes fabled as a mighty and dread necromancer and sorcerer, but still driven to revenge himself on Zotulla. He returns to Xylac and builds in one night a palace in view of that of Zotulla, now King of Xylac. He seeks the aid of Thasaidon to destroy the king, but the arch-fiend refuses his request. Angrier than ever, he makes a pact with an even greater and more dangerous entity, Thamagorgos Lord of the Abyss. He invites the King and his court to a great feast, which they attend out of curiosity. The food is tasteless and the wine full of fire, followed by entertainment with devilish music performed by strange and frightening creatures.

The mighty horses of Thamagorgos, at Namirrha's command, appear and commence the destruction of the city. He commands the King to drink a poisoned draught and does so himself; the spirits of the King and wizard look upon the destruction.

By Thasaidon's command, the spirit of Zotulla goes free into oblivion, whilst that of Namirrha, who has offended him, returns to his body. As it does so, the macrocosmic stallions of Thamagorgos return through the skies to crush the palace of Namirrha.

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